It’s time young girls can put on those smart heels and buckle up for an exciting bartending job at their favourite haunts. The Delhi Excise Act 2010 now allows women to work in bars and serve liquor to customers, and the minimum age to serve liquor in bars is now reduced to 21 years. So those fresh out of college, and wanting a career in bartending needn’t wait out the years till hitting 25, they can get right down to grabbing the job after their heart.
Says Shikha Panjla, a student from Chandigarh, “I can now look forward to working in a nice club once I’m out of college. I’ll probably take up a course in bartending for a few months and then apply for a job.”
However, there are some girls who are still unsure if at 21 they’d be able to handle customers on the other side of the counter. Vanshikha Singh, a DU student, tells us, “The reduced age limit will open doors for many girls who are looking forward to working with pubs, but I’m not too sure if at 21, girls are prepared to handle the crowd in Delhi. The city is not too safe for women bartenders.”
Talking about safety, will pubs also have to be more careful with the security of these young girls who may not have much experience in the field? Shiv Karan Singh of Smoke House Grill says, “My restaurant has two girls standing at the entrance. It’s all about controlling the crowd at the bar. And there’s enough security at the bar counter, so even if a girl is that young, they’re safe. I don’t think Delhi bars are that unsafe, except for a few where the crowd is deplorable.”
For Ramneek Pantal from Poison Ivy, it’s fun to have young girls who know their job well behind the bar counter. “If the girl is good at what she does, then why not? Having young girls as bartenders is even more comforting for an all women’s group at the pub alone. And yes, there will have to be extra bouncers for these girls for sure,” she says.